When I was 11, Beth Hicks passed me a note asking me to teach her how to flirt with boys. Why she picked me I have no clue: Every guy in our class was way more transfixed by whatever Christy Quigley had goin’ on. But, like every challenge thrown my way, I was determined to figure out the answers Beth needed.
For the rest of the day, I watched Christy and a couple of the other super popular sixth-graders in action and dutifully took notes. Then I wrote Beth back these profound insights…
Boys like it when you act like you don’t like them. When a boy starts talking to you, act like it’s no big deal or that you think it’s weird.
Boys like it when you follow them around. If you are in the library, go sit at his table. Same with lunch. If you can, get on his team in gym.
Boys like it when you touch them. Especially if you punch them a little, like in the shoulder.
On the one hand, my advice could have turned Beth into a borderline passive-aggressive stalker. On the other hand, I must admit my tips were pretty dead on. Playing a little coy, putting yourself on his radar and touching his arm when you want to make a point or he says something funny? Check, check and check (just don’t body check him into the locker bank...I was a little off on the punching thing).
For Beth, things ended well, Tim Jewett put a big chocolate bunny on her desk right before spring break that year. As for me? Suffice it to say, I’m still working on my perfect flirt technique.
Given my luck, I am more likely to meet a guy right as I am eating a spinach salad for lunch (true story). Or on a plane when I have dog breath because flying freaks me out (true story). Or on a ski slope when my nose won’t stop dripping and I have to use my mitten to wipe snot (yeah, you guessed it, true story).
What I’ve learned since sixth grade is this: Flirting is fun but it’s not the thing that will get you the guy. By the time he’s smiled or said something, you pretty much already have the deal half done.
It’s like a quarterback throwing a ball—all you have to do it catch it. No fancy moves needed. If you can move it down the field a little (“Yeah, I kinda bombed that pop quiz, too. I am so dreading the test on Friday, we should meet up Thursday to study…”), huzzah.
But on the offhand chance you really can up your odds, the next time you feel Cupid might be pulling back his arrow, order the soup. And carry mints. And Kleenex. Just sayin’.
xo Karen the editor
P.S. Want more flirt tips? We've got 50! Grab the April/May '13 issue of Girls' Life on March 12 for our best ideas ever.
BY KAREN THE EDITOR ON 3/8/2013 10:44:00 AM
POSTED IN how to flirt, Karen the editor, April/May 2013